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Trump lawyer's furious tirade at TV anchor

A lawyer for Donald Trump has been called “disrespectful and misogynistic” during a fiery TV interview following the former US President’s impeachment trial.

Trump faced his second impeachment over allegations he incited an insurrection at the US Capitol Building on January 6 as Congress certified the results of the election.

The former US President was acquitted after the Senate vote fell short of convicting Trump.

His lawyer Michael van der Veen spoke with CBS News host Lana Zak after the trial, in an interview which ended with Mr van der Veen throwing away his microphone.

CBS reporter Lana Zak and Michael van der Veen are pictured.
CBS reporter Lana Zak and Michael van der Veen were involved in a fiery interview following the impeachment trial. Source: CBS

Zak had asked Mr van der Veen about an allegation he made suggesting House managers doctored evidence during the trial.

“They didn’t deny it. They didn’t deny it. I put it in front of them three times,” he says.

She asks him to clarify and the two begin talking over each other and he asks, “that’s not enough for you?”

It’s not clear if he’s misheard her or misquoting Zak, but he claims the reporter is approving the doctoring of evidence.

“It’s not OK to doctor a little bit of evidence,” he says.

“Respectfully, respectfully, I have not said it is OK, I want to be clear for our viewers about what exactly you’re saying when you say doctored evidence,” she says.

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC.
US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, DC.

Growing angrier, Mr van der Veen accuses Zak of asking a “slanted question” and the media generally being “bloodthirsty for ratings”.

“When I watch the news, I watch one station and it’s raining. I watch another station at the same time, and it’s sunny. Your coverage is so slanted, it’s got to stop,” he says.

Zak clarifies she’s asking the lawyer to explain what evidence he’s referring to.

But he’s having none of it and the arguing continues. Zak wraps up the interview and thanks him, but Mr van der Veen throws his lapel microphone and walks off camera.

On Twitter, the interview left people divided.

One woman called Trump’s lawyer “disrespectful and misogynistic”, adding he didn’t listen to the question properly.

“CBS should have cut him off the second he became abusive,” she tweeted.

Others called his interview “vile and inexcusable”.

However, others criticised CBS for airing the interview with some calling it an “irresponsible decision” to air it.

“He’s had enough of a forum to spread more lies. I don’t need to see you encourage him more,” one woman tweeted.

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